As the winter hibernation makes room for the rejuvenation of Spring, the promise of something new always allows for optimistic attitudes to take root.

Expressionist Jonas Gerard started his 50+ year career as a working artist with representational oil paintings in the 1960’s, developing a highly successful portrait business in the 1980’s. As his waiting list for portrait work grew, he slowly felt trapped by a success that no longer fed his soul. More and more Gerard was drawn into the exciting world of non-objective, abstract art, favoring acrylic paints on canvas.

Decades later, the prolific artist creates works of magnetic energy in purely abstract, non representational splashes of color, as well as expressionist abstract landscapes, and abstracted hearts, and florals. The refreshing energy of the season has inspired a new body of work revolving around abstracted florals.

The new series incorporates techniques that have sprung up in his recent experimentations on jute and linen, using gradient backgrounds and ‘interference’ colors.

Jonas paints the spirit of the flowers in a spontaneous gesture, which never fails to convey the feeling of nature, expressed through an element of trusting the process.

This work is a celebration of the moment, the here and now, a shout out to the vitality in nature’s growth patterns. The thick, rich and juicy paint is applied boldly, showcasing the raw energy that Jonas pours onto the canvas. A rainbow of petals and buds are set against colorful gradient backgrounds. Three-dimensional collisions of paint sit on top of grainy jute canvas, creating richly textured surfaces for light and color to dance on. The interference paints, developed by Golden Artist Colors, allow elements in the art to shift hew and saturation as the angle of the viewer changes.

Jonas Gerard Fine Art invites the public to visit Asheville during the River Arts District Studio Stroll, May 20-21. The new abstracted floral series are titled ‘Fiori’, ‘Floral Fantasy’, and ‘Floral Reflections’, and will be showcased in Gerard’s two galleries during the stroll and throughout the spring and summer months.